Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is Australia's oldest professional symphonic ensemble, having been founded in 1906. It is also arguably the most versatile, with a performing repertory and recording catalog that include everything from standard orchestral works to unusual Australian works to pop and cinematic pieces.
Alberto Zelman, who founded the Melbourne Symphony, led it for its first 21 years of existence and built it into a world-class ensemble. Zelman was also the first Australian to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic and London Philharmonic Orchestras. The orchestra affiliated itself with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1934, and it became the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in 1945; the orchestra has been supported by the government of Australia's Victoria State. The original Melbourne Symphony Orchestra name was restored in 1965. The orchestra had numerous conductors during the postwar years, most of them Europeans who stayed for only a short time. In 1974, Japan's Hiroyuki Iwaki ascended the podium; he would remain until 1997, becoming the orchestra's longest-serving conductor to date and taking the group on tour to Japan twice. That inaugurated a period of international exposure that included tours of North America, East Asia, and Europe, and in 2014 the Melbourne Symphony made its debut at the BBC Proms in London. Iwaki was succeeded in turn by the German Markus Stenz, Italy's Oleg Caetani (under whom the orchestra absorbed the Melbourne Chorale in 2008 and renamed it the MSO Chorus), and the Japanese-British Tadaaki Otaka before veteran British conductor Sir Andrew Davis arrived in 2013; his tenure was set to conclude in 2019.
Davis brought in such international stars as singers Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming, and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for concerts, and took the orchestra on tours of China and Indonesia. He also continued the orchestra's vigorous recording program, which has been mostly associated with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's ABC Classics label. The variety of the Melbourne Symphony's recording catalog has been notable, including such items as a new recording of the soundtrack to the film Babe, the jazz recording Ella and Louis, and, in 2019, a recording of Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ on Britain's major Chandos label.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Mso Live - Mendelssohn / Elgar
Jeffrey Tate, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 12 Mar 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MSO - 100 Years Vol 8: Popular Classics
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 1 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection" (MSO Live) (Live)
Symphonic Music - Released by ABC Classic on 1 Jul 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 'From the New World'
Symphonic Music - Released by ABC Classic on 23 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Rubbra: Symphony No. 5 - Bliss: Five Dances from Checkmate - Tippett: Little Music
Hans-Hubert Schönzeler, Ronald Thomas, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Soloists of Australia
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 'Romantic'
Hiroyuki Iwaki, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by ABC Classic on 1 Jan 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Something Wonderful
Vladimir Kamirski, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Yvonne Kenny
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Environmental Symphony
Benjamin Northey, Sir Richard Branson, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by ABC Classic on 5 Jun 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
STRAUSS, R.: Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Le) / Intermezzo, Op. 72
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Michael Halasz
Classical - Released by Naxos on 23 Aug 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MSO - 100 Years Vol 4: Australian Composers
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 1 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MSO Live - Wagner, Delius & Elgar (Live)
Symphonic Music - Released by ABC Classic on 7 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Glass Soldier
Classical - Released by Move Records on 15 Apr 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphony No. 3 'Mater Magna': III. Con moto
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Markus Stenz
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 18 Feb 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos pour piano & orchestre
Gillian Lin, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins
Keyboard Concertos - Released by Chandos on 1 Jun 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
100 Years: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – a Celebration in Music Vol. 4: Australian Composers
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 1 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MSO - 100 Years Vol 1: Hiroyuki Iwaki
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 10 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tansman: Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 & 9
Oleg Caetani, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sculthorpe: Sun Music I-IV, Irkanda IV, Piano Concerto, Small Town
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 1 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nigel Butterley: From Sorrowing Earth
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on 12 Jun 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Willott 3 (AFL Theme) (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Version)
Mark Willott, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Pop - Released by Fox Sports Australia Pty Ltd on 15 Mar 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo